Lidded tote box



Aug. 26, 1969 K. R. BOCKENSTETTE 3,463,345

' LIDDED TOTE BOX Filed Aug. 28, 1968 Sheets-Sheet l 22a INVENTOR/S 1 16. ,2 Ka /vm/ 1Q. fiaczewsrar g BY '1 fi awn W ATTORNEYS Aug. 26, 1969K, RQQOCKENSTETTE 3,463,345

LIDDED TOTE BOX Filed Aug. 28. 1968 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR/"S[em/very P. BOCLEMSTETTE BY flJM 72%,, and man ATTOR N EYS 26, 1969 gs.R. BOCKENSTETTE 3,463,345

LIDDED Tom BOX lNVENTOR/S ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,463,345LIDDED TOTE BOX Kenneth R. Bockenstette, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor toMS Industries, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Aug.28, 1968, Ser. No. 755,936 Int. Cl. B65d 51/18 U.S. Cl. 220-29 4 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tote box of plastic or other suitablematerial, having hinged to opposed sides complementary interdigitatinglid members, and capable of being nested with like boxes when said lidmembers are swung open, and being stackable with like boxes when saidlid members are closed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention is in the field of tote boxes.Such boxes are used for many purposes, including the delivery of groceryproducts or drug products, to grocery stores, supermarkets, discountstores and the like. It is necessary that such boxes be capable of beingstacked one upon the other; and for return to their source, it isdesirable that they be capable of being nested one within the other toconserve space.

There have been numerous designs of such boxes, with and without lids,which were arranged to be stacked or nested, usually involving a 90 or180 rotation of one box with respect to another, for stacking as againstnesting. There have also been various designs of boxes having lids, butin most cases the lids have been separate elements and the lids werestacked separately for return to the source. According to the presentinvention the lids are in the form of two substantially half lids, whichhave interdigitating raised and depressed areas which pro vide a fiatupper surface when closed, to permit stacking of one box upon another.When the lids are opened up, they hang down the side of the box so as topermit one box to be nested within another. Thus the problem of loss oflids is overcome while still retaining the ability to stack and nest theboxes.

SUMMARY The tote box of the present invention is rectangular in crosssection, and has a bottom member and upwardly, outwardly sloping sideand end walls. The tapered construction permits nesting. Stop membersare provided to limit the depth to which one box may nest withinanother. At the top of opposed Walls of the box, hinge elements areprovided and a pair of lid members having hinge elements along one edgeare hingedly secured to the tops of opposed walls. When the lid membersare opened they" hang down on the outside of the respective walls of thebox, so that when one box is nested in another, the downwardly dependinghinged lid elements simply overlap each other. The lid elements areslightly more than one half the width of the box so that when they areclosed, they overlap each other. The free edges of the lid members areprovided with complementary raised and depressed areas which intermeshwith each other to provide a flat upper surface when the lid elementsare closed. The lateral edges of the lid elements are provided withmeans to engage the tops of the adjacent opposed walls; and when the lidelements are closed, a flat surface is provided which is inset ordepressed with respect to the top edges of the side and end walls of thebox. The configuration of the depressed lid area is such that the bottomof a like box snugly fits therein so as to be retained against lateralmovement.

3,463,345 Patented Aug. 26, 1969 "ice FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of abox according to the present invention with the cover elements closed.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the same taken on theline 2-2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 33 ofFIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view on an enlarged scaletaken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional view also on an enlarged scaletaken on the line 5-5 of FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 but with the lid elementsomitted.

FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view of a box according to the presentinvention.

FIGURE 8 is an end elevational view of the same showing in broken linesa fragment of another box in nesting relationship.

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view taken on theline 9-9 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 10 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view taken on theline 1010 of FIGURE 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The tote box of the presentinvention has a bottom wall 10, opposed side walls 11, and opposed endwalls 12. As best seen in FIGURES 7 and 8, these side and end wallsslope upwardly and outwardly from the bottom wall 10. From aconsideration of FIGURE 6, it will be noted that the side walls 11 areprovided with wedge shaped, outwardly depressed elements 13 andintermediate areas which are inwardly depressed as at 14. It will beclear that when nesting, these respective areas interfit with each otherand serve to maintain the boxes in alignment with each other. It willbenoted in FIGURES 7 and 8, that on the outside the stop elements 15 arepro vided, and these are so arranged that when one box is nested in alike box, the bottoms of the elements 15 rest on the tops of the wallsof the lower box to prevent the boxes from jamming into each other.

The opposed walls 11 are provided with the hinge elements 11a, which arein effect cylindrical, by virtue of alternating openings 11b at the topand at the bottom (FIGURES 1, 7, 9 and 10). The lid elements are shownat 16 and 17, and these are provided with the hinge elements 16a and17a, which are similar to the elements 11a but are offset with respectthereto so that they interfit therewith. The elements 16a and 17a arealso in elfect cylindrical by virtue of the alternating openings 16b and17b at the top, and and at the bottom (FIG- URES 1 and 7). A hinge pinpassing through the elements 11a and 16a and 11a and 17a completes thehinge structure.

The lateral edges of the lid elements 16 and 17 are provided with flangeelements 18, 19, which fit over the tops of the side walls 12 when thelid elements are closed and thus serve to support the lids in position.

From a consideration of FIGURES l, 2 and 3, it will be clear that thelid elements 16 and 17 overlap each other. Since it is important to havea fiat upper surface, for stacking purposes, the lid element 16 has theelements 20 and the lid element 17 has the interdigitating elements 21.In between the members 20 on the lid element 16, are the depressed areas22 and similarly between the elements 21 are the depressed areas 23. Thedepressed areas 22 and 23 are only one-half as long as theinterdigitating elements 20 and 21, and terminate at 22a and 23aespectively (FIGURES 2 and 3). The lids must be opened and closedconcurrently for proper interdigitation. Thus, when the lid elements areclosed as best seen 3 in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, the elements 21 of themember 17 seat in the depressed portions 22 of the lid element 16, whilethe elements 20 of the lid element 16 seat in the depressed portions 23of the element 17.

From a consideration of FIGURE 8, it will be seen that the lid elements16 and 17 when opened, may swing all the way outward and downward asseen at the left of FIGURE 8, and when one box according to theinvention is nested in another, the lids simply overlap each other asshown at the left of FIGURE 8 where the lid of a lower box is shown inbroken lines.

It will be understood that finger holds may be provided in the walls 12as indicated at 25 (FIGURE and that various details may be variedconsiderably without departing from the spirit of the invention.

For these reasons no limitations not expressly set forth in the claimsshould be read in or implied.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows.

I claim:

1. A tote box comprising a bottom, and upwardly outwardly sloping sideand end walls, hinge elements at the top on two opposed walls, a coverelement hingedly secured to said hinge elements on each of said opposedwalls, said cover elements overlapping in the region of the middle ofsaid box, the opposed lateral edges of said cover elements having meansto engage the tops of the adjacent opposed walls when in closedposition, and the free edges of said cover elements having complementaryraised and depressed areas, the depressed areas being about one-half thelength of the raised areas, said areas interfitting with each other whensaid cover elements are closed, to present an upwardly flat surface,inset with respect to the upper edges of said side and end walls,whereby a like box may be stacked thereon and be confined againstlateral movement.

2. A tote box according to claim 1, wherein said hinge elements permitsaid cover elements to swing down on the outside of said box.

3. A tote box according to claim 2, wherein abutment means are providedon the outside of said box near the tops of the walls thereof, saidabutment means adapted to abut the top of a like box in nesting relationthereto, to prevent jamming.

4. A tote box according to claim 3, wherein in nested condition the opencover elements overlap the open cover elements of a like box in nestingrelation thereto.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,897,999 8/1959 Bishop 220-293,245,573 4/1966 Bakos 220-21 3,379,341 4/1968 Miles 220-97 3,362,5611/1968 Bakos 220-21 GEORGE T. HALL, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

